But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
This month we observe and celebrate both Good Friday and Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Both of these key days on our church calendar speak clearly of the great love God has for us in sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. Our Heavenly Father did this so we could be redeemed into an eternal relationship with Him and therefore we could both receive and pass onto others His perfect love. When we speak of love in the Biblical sense, it is about sacrificing to do the very best for someone else; to better the other person. God sacrificed His Son for our sakes to better us and give us the very best gift, the gift of eternal life. We as people have the ability to love to some degree as we are made in God’s image. In a natural way, we instinctively know that true love involves being faithful and sacrificial in whatever relationship we are in and that we will seek to do our best for that person. Yet there is a whole other level to love that we can only get by putting our faith into Jesus Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit. The love that the above verse speaks of in Romans is a love that will sacrifice even though the object of that love is unworthy and maybe even unreceptive. God loved us as sinners when all we deserved was wrath and judgment. God in His mercy, kindness and love grants us forgiveness and new life even though we do not merit it. This is a supernatural love and it is exactly what we need to be able fulfill the greatest commandments to love God and our neighbor. We cannot see God in visible and physical form, but we can love Him by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We may have a very hard time loving our neighbor, but by God’s grace and the Spirit in us, we can love them as Jesus would. This is what resurrection life is all about! It is a supernatural power given by God to us to believe and love as God would have us to. Without God’s Spirit and grace, we will shrink back to just natural abilities which fall woefully short of God’s plan. The Bible states that “we love because God first loved us!” (see 1 John 4:19) Let us all examine ourselves to be sure we are “in the Lord” as believers, and if so, if we are letting His love flow back out of us to Him and the people He has put in our life. I pray everyone has a blessed Good Friday and Easter celebration this year!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Gary Houdek